Mi Pueblo said it would keep all 21 stores open and would use the bankruptcy as a chance to reorganize the 22-year-old grocery chain, which started as a small immigrant-run shop in East San Jose and has grown to a 3,260-employee supermarket corporation.

"It's not an issue with payroll and it's not an issue with sales," said spokeswoman Perla Rodriguez. "Mi Pueblo is dealing with a very difficult creditor. We're at an impasse and we're seeking protection from the court."

She added: "We're working very, very hard to reorganize and come out stronger."

Wells Fargo did not respond to inquiries from this newspaper Monday.

The bankruptcy filing presents a tough challenge for the company in the unforgiving supermarket industry, where few have managed to recover from a Chapter 11 reorganization. Most supermarkets survive on hefty lines of credit and good-faith relationships with food vendors, experts say.

"Some stores survive these things, but most of the time the inevitable happens and they're gone," said supermarket analyst David Livingston. "It's a very unforgiving business, and when you fall behind, it's very difficult to catch back up again."

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Mi Pueblo has six bank accounts, but most of its cash is in the hands of Wells Fargo, which is the lender of a few different types of loans that keep the grocer operating, according to bankruptcy court documents. Wells Fargo wanted to change the terms of those loans after it became concerned about Mi Pueblo's debt to credit ratio and its forecast revenues, according to Robert Harris, a partner at Law Offices of Binder and Malter, the firm representing Mi Pueblo.

Chapter 11 allows Mi Pueblo to continue doing "business as usual" while it sorts out its differences with Wells Fargo, Harris said. The bank will remain the grocer's lender through the legal proceedings, and Harris said negotiations will start this week to discuss "extending the relationship."

If Mi Pueblo, which has become a local business leader and community philanthropist over the years, can keep its customers returning during the bankruptcy and earn the trust of its vendors, then the company has a chance of recovering, experts say.

The company says it never missed a payment. "Mi Pueblo is current on all obligations to employees, suppliers and all of its creditors, including its secured creditors," according to the declaration filed in bankruptcy court by Mi Pueblo CEO Juvenal Chavez.

Attorney and law professor Kenneth Klee, who used to work on supermarket bankruptcies but hasn't studied Mi Pueblo's case, doesn't expect Wells Fargo to stick around.

"They obviously want out," said Klee, a bankruptcy law expert at UC Los Angeles. "They don't want to extend the credit, and they weren't being cooperative."

Klee said unless it finds a new lender, the supermarket will have challenges reorganizing.

If the grocer was struggling to pay its bills, some Mi Pueblo shoppers said they hadn't noticed. Shelves at the East Julian Street Mi Pueblo in San Jose appeared well-stocked Monday afternoon, and shoppers said they were able to buy everything they needed.

"I've been coming here for two years, nearly every day because I don't stock at home," said Gerardo Olvera. "I see everything is the same."